Oil-switch.



s. B. GONDIT, J

OIL SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16, 1909.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SEARS B. CONDIT, JR-., 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

OIL-SWITCH.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SEARS B. CoNDIr, J r., a citizen of the United States, and resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Oil-Switches, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention is an electric switch or circuit breaker of the oil-immersed type, and has for its objects the provision of mechanism rendering the inspection of the working parts extremely convenient without the removal of the oil tank, safe because the switch and oil tank are necessarily disconnected and hence" dead when in position for inspection, inexpensive, simple, and not liable to get out of order.

Among further novel features of my invention are having the cover of the oil tan support the entire switch, having the cover and the switch hinged to the pan, having the air switch movable with the oil switch, and having provision preventing the blowing and consequent arcing of the air switch.

lVhile my invention is primarily intended for heavy service, I do not intend to restrict it thereto, and although I prefer the mechanism shown in the drawings, it will be understood that my invention is broadly new in the features above mentioned as hereinafter specified in the claims, and, therefore, is not restricted to the constructional details of the preferred embodiment herein pre sented.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of one form of my invention; Fig. 2 shows'the same in rear elevation and partly in section; and Fig. 3 is a top plan view thereof, the upper part being broken away and sectioned for convenience of illustration. Fig. 4: is an enlarged perspective View of a detail.

The oil pan or tank 1 may be of any desired size or shape to suit the particular size and style of switch, being herein shown as wider at the top than at its bottom, and having a slanting rear wall 2, to which is pivoted at 3 by means of links 4. a cover The links 1 are pivoted at 6 to side braces 7, 8 which depend rigidly from the cover. Rigidly secured at 9, 10 in the cover are insulating braces or supports 11, 12 which carry rigidly at their lower ends a plate or plat- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 16, 1909.

Patented Jan. 24, 1911.

Serial No. 483,781.

form 13 in which are mounted, in insulating bushings lat, opposite contacts 15, 16, herein shown as brush contacts, connected at 1T, 18 respectively to service conductors 19, 20, extending upwardly through porcelain bushings 21, 22, above which they are provided respectively with air switches or dis connecting members 2 24 adapted to be sprun or forced over the projecting ends 25, at of stationary terminals, from which extend the line connections 27, 28, herein shown as passing down in usual manner and out through the bottom of the cell which contains the oil circuit breaker. The movable or bridging contact 29 is rigidly secured at 30 to a vertically movable operating member 31 whose lower end 32 constitutes a guiding portion, while the upper end thereof passes through a guiding slot 33 in the cover and is pivoted at 34C to a pair of levers 35 pivoted at 36 to links 37 pivoted at 38 to cars or brackets 39 extending rigidly from the top of the cover. Pivoted also on the ears or brackets 39 at 4:0 are levers a1 pivoted at one end at 12 to the levers 35 and at their other ends at 4:3 to an operating handle eta, which may be actuated by hand or power as desired.

Preferably butl'er springs 45 are provided to facilitate the operation of the circuit breaker, being mounted on guide pins et6 passing loosely through the cover and pivotally secured at 47 to a transverse bar 48 carried by the lovers 35. The cover has a depressed portion et9 to direct any oil back into the tank which may drip from the operating member 31 when raised. On the under side of the cover I provide opposite oildeflecting plates 50 for breaking the force of the oil in case of an oil explosion and thus preventing the shattering of the cover and adjacent parts under such circumstances. To render it impossible for a sudden overload to force open the air switches 23, 2st, thereby producing disastrous arcing, I provide magnetic holding means for renderin it impossible to open the air switch during the passage of heavy current, said means being shown as consisting of a turn of magnetic material about each clip or projecting end 25, 26, said turn of magnetic material being herein shown in the form of a horse-shoe 51 held immovably in place at the base of the clip by any suitable means, as by the projecting edges 52 of the base of the clip and a bolt head 53, and cooperating with this electro-magnetic part or catch 51 is a latch 54 pivoted at 55 to the adjacent disconnecting member 23 or 24: as the case may be. At its forward end the latch has a cross bar 56 which acts as an armature with relation to the part 51, so that when heavy current is passing through the latter it becomes magnetized and forcibly attracts and positively holds the latch in locked position as shown. At its lower end the latch is provided with an opening 57 to receive a hook whereby it may be pulled clownwardly and upon striking against a stop 58 serves, upon a further pull, to disconnect the adjacent member 23 or 24. A spring 59 normally holds the latch in engaged position so that, irrespective of whether a heavy current is passing or not, the latch will normally interlock with the catch 51 and thereby aid in maintaining the current conductors in operative connection.

The tank is preferably relatively high so as to permit a considerable vertical extent of gas chamber, as indicated at 60, above the normal oil level at 61.

In use, when it is desired to inspect the operative parts of the switch or the inside of the oil tank or well, the operating handle 414E is first raised so as to open the switch, and then the disconnecting switches 23, 24 are snapped back so as to disconnect them from the terminals 25, 26 and the handle 44 is disconnected at a3, whereupon the cover is pulled upwardly, with the result that the entire switch turns back on the links 4 into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. l. The special hinging means permits the lower end of the switch to move upwardly in a practically vertical direction until nearly out of the tank, so that the latter can be narrow, occupying little space. Thus it will be seen that the entire switch is supported on the cover, and the switch and oil tank are absolutely dead when being inspected or when the oil is being renewed, or for any other reason the operator is examining any of the parts. Also the switch and its cover are preferably hinged to the oil tank or pan, which operates to turn the parts upwardly into the best position for inspection. The disconnecting switches 23, 24 render it easy to kill the oil tank and connected mechanism (irrespective of whether the switch is turned out of the tank or remains immersed therein), as the con-- tute an electro-magnetic locking device, it guards against the opening of the air switches 23, 24; before the main switch or circuit breaker is opened. This provision leads the operator always to open the switch first before he disconnects it from the main line.

I believe my invention is broadly new in a number of respects, and accordingly I wish it understood that I am not limited to the constructional details herein shown as constituting the preferred embodiment of the invention, except as required by the claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with an electric switch, of an oil pan for receiving said switch, and a removable cover hinged to the oil pan and carrying the switch.

An oil switch apparatus, comprising an oil pan for receiving the switch, and constituting the support for the cover, a removable cover for said oil pan, an electric switch supported by said cover in position to be submerged within the oil pan, line connections for use with said oil switch, terminal supports for the ends of said line connections mounted externally and independently of the oil pan cover and said oil switch, and switching means interposed between said ends of the line connections and the oil switch for rendering the oil pan and the switch dead for purposes of inspection, said terminal supports and switching means hav ing a position with relation to said cover which prevents the removal of the cover and switch from the oil pan when said switching means is in circuit-closing relation to the ends of the line connections, and which permits the removal of the cover and switch from the oil pan when said switching means is disconnected from the ends of the line connections.

3. An oil switch apparatus, comprising an oil pan for receiving the switch, and constituting the support for the movable operating parts of the apparatus, a removable cover for said oil pan, an electric switch supported by said removable cover in position to be submerged within the oil pan, line connections for use with said oil switch, terminal supports for the ends of said line connections mounted externally and independently of the oil pan cover and said oil switch, and switching means movable with the cover interposed between said ends of the line connections and the oil switch for rendering the oil pan and the switch dead, said switching means being in position to prevent the opening of the cover and access to said electric switch until operated to render the latter dead.

4. An oil switch apparatus, comprising a normally closed oil pan, an electric switch whose contacts are inclosed within said pan, circuit opening means cooperating with the pan and switch to prevent the opening of the pan until operated to open the circuit, and means then operable to permit the opening of the oil pan and inspection of the switch.

5. In combination, a switch, means for normally inclosing the same, said parts being relatively movable to expose the switch, an external circuit for the switch, and a disconnector therein positioned in its circuit closing relation to prevent said switch exposing movement.

(3. The combination with an electric switch, its line terminals, and inclosing means normally inclosing said switch, including a movable part to expose the switch, of means controlling said movable part and normally connecting the switch with the line terminals, having provision for disconnection to dead position, said movable part being released by said disconnection for movement to expose said normally inclosed switch.

'7. The combination with an electric switch and its contacts, and an oil pan containing the same, of an oil-deflecting plate projecting laterally over the oil obliquely to the surface of the oil above the switch contacts in position to break the upward force of an oil explosion and deflect the oil from its natural course.

8. The combination with an oil pan, a re movable cover therefor, and an electric switch supported by said cover, of oil-deflecting plates projecting obliquely downwardly from each other and from said cover in the path of an oil explosion for deflecting the oil from said cover.

9. The combination with an electric switch, of an oil pan, a cover for said pan supporting said switch, and hinging means between said cover and pan for permitting the lower part of the switch to move out of the pan with the cover in an approximately vertical direction until practically out of the pan.

10. The combination of an oil pan, an electric switch normally immersed therein and capable of being turned to bottom-side-up position, and means cooperating with the pan and switch to require the reversal of the switch independently of the pan to said bottom-side-up position for purposes of inspection.

11. The combination of an oil pan, a removable cover therefor, a switch depending in said pan from said cover, and hinging means between the pan and cover for compelling the cover and switch to move into a bottom-side-up position upon the opening of the cover.

12. The combination of an oil pan, a cover, an electric switch suspended in said pan from said cover, and hinging connections between said cover and pan permanently connecting the parts for permitting the opening of the pan and exposure of the switch for external inspection.

13. The combination of an oil pan, a cover, an electric switch suspended in said pan from said cover, and a hinging link pivoted at one end to the tank and at the other end to the cover for permitting the cover and switch to have a limited freedom of movement in addition to a strict swinging movement.

14. The combination with an oil pan, a cover hinged to one edge of the pan, a switch suspended on the under side of said cover, and operating mechanism for the switch mounted on the upper side of the cover, said. cover and its said connected mechanism be-- ing movable together independently of the oil pan.

15. The combination with a main switch, the main line terminals, and a disconnecting switch between the latter and the main switch, of a movable locking latch for connecting said disconnecting switch to an adjacent stationary part for holding the disconnecting switch in circuit-closing position, and a stop in the opening path of movement of said latch, movement of said latch serving first to unlock the same and then, by engagement with said stop, to actuate the disconnecting switch.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

, SEAR-S B. CONDIT, Jn.

Witnesses:

M. J. SPALDING, G120. H. MAXWELL. 

